Pla de Barris: these are the municipalities that will receive the first 230 million in aid
The first round benefits 20 towns, including the four Catalan capitals
This Friday, the Catalan government announced the first municipalities to benefit from one of Salvador Illa's flagship initiatives: the 2025-2029 Neighborhood Plan. Around twenty towns, including the four Catalan provincial capitals, will be able to implement projects with a total budget of €412 million, of which €232.71 million will be provided by the Catalan government—a higher figure than initially projected. The projects that will benefit most from this plan are located in Olot, Amposta, Vic, Tortosa, Figueres, and Santa Coloma de Gramenet. The list is completed by Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Seu d'Urgell, Mataró, Sant Joan Despí, Calafell, Reus, Manresa, Solsona, La Pobla de Segur, and Torrelameu. The second call for proposals under the Neighborhood Plan will be published in the first half of 2026.
How are projects chosen?
The 20 selected neighborhoods were chosen from among the 83 applications received by the Catalan Government. The Neighborhood and Village Plan Commission emphasizes that there are projects from all the vegueries (regions), and therefore believes the distribution is "balanced." Specifically, there are five from Barcelona, three from Central Catalonia, three from Girona, two from Alt Pirineu, two from Tarragona, two from Lleida, two from Terres de l'Ebre, and one from Penedès. In total, the Catalan Government estimates that the proposed actions will directly benefit 273,519 people. To make the selection published this Friday, the Neighborhood Plan Commission assigned each project a score, in which 30% corresponds to "objective" conditions based on nearly thirty indicators related to vulnerability, and the remaining 70% corresponds to the evaluation of the program based on criteria related to physical and socio-community transformation.
Now, what about the municipalities that didn't receive funding? Carles Martí, the commissioner for promoting urban, environmental, and social improvement policies for neighborhoods and towns, admitted that "good projects" were left out of the selection process and encouraged them to apply in the next call for proposals, which is expected to be released in May.
Regarding the timeline, once the resolution is published this Friday, the town councils have 12 business days to accept the grant. Should any of the councils ultimately withdraw their application, something the government doesn't anticipate, the selected municipality would be the next one on the list. The final resolution is expected in mid-January, at which point the entire technical procedure will be set in motion.
The first call for proposals, neighborhood by neighborhood
The three projects receiving the largest budgets are those in Olot, Amposta, and Vic, with €15 million each. In Olot, the proposal focuses on the old town; in Vic, on the riverside neighborhoods (El Grau and Pla d'Empúries), an area with aging urban development; and in Vic, on the southern and northeastern neighborhoods. In Barcelona, with €12.5 million, the selected project is in the Ciutat Vella district, comprised of the neighborhoods of Raval, Gòtic, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina, La Ribera, and Barceloneta. This area faces challenges such as "residential vulnerability, job insecurity, educational inequalities, and a lack of public space," among others.
Apart from the Catalan capital, the following projects have also been selected in the Barcelona area: Mataró (€13M), which focuses on the Cerdanyola neighborhood; Sant Joan Despí (€9M), centered on Les Planes; Santa Coloma de Gramenet (€13M), which focuses on the southern part – Fondo, Raval, Santa Rosa and Lavaderos, and part of Can Mariner –; and Santa Perpètua de Mogoda (€9M) for Can Folguera.
Of the projects in the Girona region, Figueres focuses on the western area, and Girona on Pont Major. In the Tarragona area, the lower part of the city has been chosen; the Tortosa project focuses on the historic city center; and in Reus in the southern area (neighborhoods of Carrilet, Juroca, Parcelas Casas, Fortuny, and Sant Josep Obrer). In Lleida, the focus will be on the historic center, and in Torrelameu, on the town center. In Central Catalonia, in Manresa, the focus is also on the historic center, and in Solsona, on the old town. In the Alt Pirineu i l'Aran region, in La Pobla de Segur, the improvements are intended to be distributed throughout the municipality, and in La Seu d'Urgell, in the historic center. In the Penedès region, the selected project in Calafell is focused on the Cal Bolavà neighborhood. To monitor the work in the neighborhoods, the Government emphasizes that it plans to create monitoring committees in each one, with representatives from community and neighborhood associations. Regarding the disbursement of subsidies, the Government will provide an initial advance to the municipalities and will subsequently release the funds as the neighborhoods complete the planned projects. The projects had to be submitted with a five-year timeline, meaning that all planned actions should be completed within this period.
